The Chocolate Soldier (film)
| The Chocolate Soldier | |
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Film poster
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| Directed by | Roy Del Ruth |
| Produced by | Victor Saville |
| Written by |
Leonard Lee Keith Winter |
| Based on |
Testőr by Ferenc Molnár |
| Starring |
Nelson Eddy Risë Stevens Nigel Bruce |
| Music by |
Herbert Stothart Bronislau Kaper |
| Cinematography | Karl Freund |
| Edited by | James E. Newcom |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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Running time
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102 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Chocolate Soldier is a 1941 American musical film directed by Roy Del Ruth. Using the original music by Oscar Straus the plot is somewhat loosely based on the Ferenc Molnár play entitled Testőr and is unrelated to either the original play or the Oscar Straus operetta.
Karl Lang and Maria Lanyi are not only successful musical performers, they have also recently been married. However, both suffer pangs of jealousy where the other is concerned, since both receive quite a bit of attention from members of the opposite sex. Karl's jealousy is heightened, however, when Maria tells him that she intends to leave their current musical comedy career and seek a career in opera. Karl sees it as a pretext to spend more time away from him.
In order to test his jealous suspicions, Karl hatches a plan to impersonate a Russian singer, Vassily Vassilievitch, and romance Maria in that guise. The plan goes awry however, when Maria seemingly begins to respond to Vassily's advances. Unknown to Karl, Maria has seen through his impersonation, and his thrilled that her husband would go to such lengths for her attention. Even the couple's dog sees through Karl's disguise. When events come to a head with an on-stage confrontation between a disguised Karl and Maria, she reveals her knowledge all along that Vassily was really Karl, and the two live happily ever after, except for Maria's continued flirtations.
The film was nominated for three Academy Awards:
This was the film debut for Risë Stevens.
This film is the second adaptation, not a remake, of the play by Ferenc Molnár. The first adaptation was the 1931 film, The Guardsman, which was a non-musical version starring the husband/wife acting team of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.
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